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BancorpSouth quietly cut a deal in Arkansas that could undercut Florida claims in the overdraft case and save it millions. A federal judge is not amused.
June 6 -
Banks have long argued that processing debit card transactions by starting with the largest dollar balances and working their way to the smallest benefited customers. Here's an alternate explanation of what might have motivated them: "Multiple Millions $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$."
September 26
PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a class-action lawsuit relating to its overdraft protection practices.
The lawsuit claimed that the $287.8 billion-asset PNC changed the order of its customers' debit card and ATM transactions by posting them in the highest-to-lowest dollar amount rather than the order in which they were initiated by customers and authorized by the bank. According to the lawsuit, this practice resulted in its customers being charged more in overdraft fees.
The settlement should be presented to the court for preliminary approval later this summer, plaintiffs' counsel said in a news release Tuesday.
The PNC case is part of the multidistrict litigation involving more than 30 banks pending in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida before Judge James Lawrence King. The banks are all facing similar allegations that they improperly reordering debit card transactions to maximize overdraft fees.
So far more than a dozen banks, including Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citizens Financial Group have already settled or are seeking court approval of settlement proposals.
